During the final days of August, a tropical wave whose axis extended from the Caribbean south of Hispaniola northward to the adjacent Atlantic waters began to produce increased thunderstorm activity throughout the region. However, upper level winds were quite strong over the wave. This prevented further development for a few days as it moved toward the west-northwest. The system passed over the southern Bahamas on September 2 and its satellite presentation improved markedly, though it still lacked a surface circulation. Only on September 3 did Florida radar detect a well-defined surface low, prompting the naming of Tropical Storm Gordon. At the time of naming, Gordon's center was over southern Florida. It moved over the Gulf of Mexico shortly afterward but continued to bring rain to the southern half of the peninsula for the remainder of the day.
While the core intermittently showed signs of an eyewall forming on radar, the overall satellite presentation of Gordon was lackluster as it moved through the Gulf over the next day. The radius of tropical storm force winds remained very small and heavy rain did not extend much beyond it. Nevertheless, maximum winds at the center reached strong tropical storm intensity by September 4. The waters of the Gulf of Mexico were quite warm, but fortunately Gordon's forward speed remained fairly high due to consistent steering patterns, and it moved quickly northwest. Late in the day, the cyclone reached its peak intensity of 70 mph winds and a pressure of 997 mb just before making landfall along the Gulf coast near the border of Mississippi and Alabama. Mississippi was spared most of Gordon's flooding rain impacts since almost all rain was to the east of the center. Some hurricane force gusts were also reported during landfall.
The system quickly weakened inland and became a tropical depression on September 5. Its movement slowed considerably once over land and it gradually moved northward through the midwest over the following couple of days, bringing heavy rainfall to a wide swath of the central U.S. before being absorbed.
The above image shows Gordon just before landfall on the Gulf coast.
Gordon's slow movement after landfall contributed to flooding rains throughout the central U.S.
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